The city is the way the music resonates in it, the space shapes its regular visitors - and not exclusively the other way around. Thus, Mixer (not only the festival) contributed the most to the revival and reinvention of the neglected, flooded Savamala - a dilapidated part of Belgrade on the right bank of the hard-to-tamed Sava, between two older bridges. This poor "neighborhood" was threatened with slipping into history, which had already swallowed its physical working class and lumpenproletariat, like a lump in its throat (political ill-will), the railway station, the pier... Fresh blood and a clean face, however, are brought by the so-called the service sector, catering and creative industries (even if the latter is still in its infancy here). A series of Mlados'-Radost-Ludos'-type bars almost leads from the versatile Mikser-house to the "Grad" Cultural Center, which - along with KC Rex and a couple of state/municipal cultural institutions - preserves the fervor of alternative culture in the capital of Serbia in the 90st century, such as was once (before the political takeover in the 'XNUMXs) fueled in the SKC.
photo: barbara anastacioRita Braga
With its full name "The City - European Center for Culture and Debate", it was created by the initiative of the Cultural Front Belgrade and the Dutch Felix Meritis Foundation, located in an "industrial heritage facility" (read: warehouse, built in 1884), and with the necessary renovations it is capable of multi-programs . Likewise for alternative entertainment, which in Belgrade has long meant: decent, not expensive. So, as opposed to pocondired clubbing and vulgarized rafting, criminals, cops, celebrities, tabloids, the prime minister's son don't go there... Moreover, apart from the makeup-wearing clientele of Mikser House, those who can be considered the local hipsters come to KC Grad. In any case, a colorful, interesting and peaceful audience, uninterested in the nth guest appearance of Nouvelle Vague, began to fill the courtyard of the "City" during the opening performance of Daniel Kovaฤ (Jarboli) under the company Jesenji Orkestar. Transformed with tables/benches into a summer garden with a view (from a frog's angle) of the illuminated bridge from Brankova Street, this small space casually hosted everyone from babies to older women my age. With tickets for 250 d. they gathered to witness little wonder, only the life they would like.
Rita with the toponymic surname Braga (b. '85, Lisbon, lives in Porto) graduated in musicology, made music for illustrations/animations and film, acted in cabaret and on film, did voices for cartoons and commercials... Years In 2004, she started performing everywhere in the world, in the most diverse circumstances, including burlesque shows and elementary schools. This spring, for example, she was on her first exYU-tour, from the sardine factory on Mali Loลกinj (the birthplace of little Loลกa) and the salon of applied art in Maribor, through KC Grad, to falling in love with Skopje. "Like most of the people I met in Slovenia, Croatia, Serbia and Macedonia, I long for that distant country of Yugoslavia where being a poet was a very respectable job," she said. "And Skopje has probably become my new favorite European capital: it's like being inside a Monty Python movie - mixed with ancient Rome." On this occasion, as far as Serbia is concerned, it also goes through comics workshops (Deliblato) and a film festival (Panฤevo ).
Rita's career is a mish-mash, literally, of field recordings, analog Mugs, samizdata, internet radio, pirated webcasts, low-fi and SoundCloud, home recordings where she sings along to old records or 'crushed' radios. It also changes identities, leaving them behind like an old wardrobe; cooperates with various people (eg Presidente Drogado), establishes formations on the fly; unique posters for her performances are often made by well-known graphic artists; claims that animated characters come to her in her dreams to advise her on how to lead a "career"... Since it's not the first coincidence: Rita's debut CD cover Cherries That Went To The Police (2011, with some collaborators of Waits and Zappa) drawn by Aleksandar Zograf!
And then the music, the repertoire: eclectic is a weak word for a sound collage from Brazil to Bollywood, from Mozart to cowboy songs, including ethno-music from regions she has not (yet) traveled; Katyusha and 2008, at the European Championship Her... Home Recordings Vol.. 3 I Can't Wait For Sunday To Come.. Only there is no fado.
Although live sometimes he includes a piano, a synth, or plays a pre-recorded "backing" - with minimal electronics, Rockin' Back Inside My Heart she sounds like julie cruise - live she is mostly accompanied only by a miniature ukulele (beating: uke), which definitely influences the choice of tracks/styles. At the end of the 4th century, the Portuguese brought a bouquet of smaller relatives of the guitar to Hawaii, the natives adapted it to themselves, their king promoted it, so this practical, cheap (later also plastic) and easy to learn XNUMX-string instrument was sucked into North America first; among the Anglo-Saxons, it was mostly used by comedians, actors/singers, presenters - in vaudeville, on radio and TV; he excelled in the swing era, and innovative, "stunt" songs simply stuck to him; Canada later used it massively in music classes.
The ukulele became a global pop-culture staple in '59. hit movie by B. Wilder Some like it hot, especially shake-knead point Runnin' Wild singer Sugar Kane Kowalczyk (Marilyn Monroe), strumming a ukulele. Rita, however, sings River Of No Return from another MM-film, like her cover Tiptoe Through The Tulips underlines the often bizarre nature of ukulele versions: this old hit was a hit in '68. performed by the left-handed, red-haired, plaid-clad hippie, not at all petite Tiny Tim, who also appeared in Americana in the '80s. In contrast to Tim's trademark falsetto, Braga sings in a clear, ringing, occasionally intoxicating voice; It would have been nice if we drank a pink martini as well. Although, hers Hey Jude sounds like she demolished Yoko Ono. George Harrison loved the ukulele so much that McCartney highlighted it in 2002 on a tour dedicated to him. Towards the end of the 2011th century, new producers of this instrument appeared, including new players; YouTube is full of virtuoso points and instructions. Eddie Vedder (Pearl Jam) releases an album in XNUMX Ukulele Songs, reminding, among other things, that some of the happiest songs come from the saddest periods.
Rita Braga perfectly fit into the summer night in monsoon Belgrade in 2014. Do-it-yourself, not virtuosic, but convincing, charming, almost playing with the means of making music - like the Lounge Lizards used to be. During the intermission, the night train slipped right behind the small stage, as it were. After and beyond that, kukulele. An impressive building called The Geozavoda was renovated to accommodate the investment firm for the Potemkin Village. I am not surprised that they are planning a phallus tower, that is what (falling) regimes do. Will it have a cropped top? Will we get an approved Constitution?
